BARBECUE’S BRIGHT SIDES
Quality sides become important part of Texas barbecue-joint menus
Smoked-meat connoisseurs no longer are beholden to premade potato salad — barbecue joints are focusing on what accompanies the main dish.
The Texas barbecue renaissance of the past 10 years has resulted in many delicious benefits, mostly notably in exquisitely smoked meats but also in chef-inspired side dishes.
Long gone are the days of pre-made potato salad, coleslaw and baked beans served out of 5-gallon tubs. Though some purists might scoff at the necessity of sides, they play an important role in contemporary barbecue-joint patronage.
Barbecue hounds like myself often are hamstrung by the fact that our friends and family don’t always want to eat barbecue every day (crazy, I know). And pity the vegetarian who finds himself among a group of meat lovers making a beeline for a barbecue joint.
Fortunately, the trendiness of high-quality sides means there are now options for everyone. But it wasn’t always this good.
Back in the 1800s, butchers at Central Texas meat markets would cook any unsold, soon-to-spoil meat on Sundays to provide a special meal for locals and laborers. Customers would then take their meat wrapped in butcher paper next door to the dry-goods store and purchase additional foodstuffs with a longer shelf life to supplement their meal — think crackers, onions, cheese and pickles.
Kreuz Market in Lockhart and The Brisket House in Houston still offer these old-school accompaniments.
The “modernization” of barbecue joints in the 1980s and ’90s yielded poor-quality smoked meats cooked in automated pits and mass-produced sides served out of plastic tubs (“convenient and easy!”).
I noticed a shift in sidedish quality circa 2010, when Greg Gatlin opened his tiny take-out joint in the Heights. Tucked away on the menu among Central Texas-style meats was fragrant, East Texas-style, spicy dirty rice. This fusion of two styles was both innovative and delicious. It remains a fixture on Gatlin’s menu.
Side dishes at local barbecue joints continued to improve from there. Another turning point came in 2013, when Killen’s Barbecue debuted in Pearland. Chef Ronnie Killen introduced his own version of a traditional side — creamed corn. It still ranks as one of the best sides in the Houston barbecue realm.
At Roegels Barbecue Co. on Voss, co-owner Misty Roegels makes “Texas Caviar” — a fresh, bright assemblage of black-eyed peas, corn, black beans, tomato, red onions and parsley.
In the past few years, the rise of “craft barbecue” has yielded additional creative spins on standards.
In Houston, Pinkerton’s Barbecue makes Louisiana jambalaya with smoked duck and sausage. The Pit Room in Montrose features elote — grilled and smoked corn on the cob coated with butter and topped with crumbly cheese and cilantro. Crispy house-made chicharrones (pork skins) drizzled with a vinegary/ tangy hot sauce are an addictive snack at the Pit Room, too.
In Tomball, Tejas Chocolate Craftory serves a stellar menu of sides with its barbecue, anchored by a wildly popular carrot soufflé. Chef and pitmaster Greg Moore coaxes every bit of sweetness out of his carrots to produce a silky casserole more reminiscent of sweet potatoes.
Further afield, the LeRoy & Lewis “new school barbecue” trailer in Austin taps into owner Evan LeRoy’s culinary background as a classically trained chef. The menu changes daily, but on a recent visit LeRoy offered an inventive take on coleslaw with an acidic, tart pile of shredded collard greens.
Smoky braised collard greens have a long tradition in Southern cuisine and often show up on barbecue joint menus in Houston and surrounding areas. Quality can be hit-or-miss, with the greens often overcooked into a pile of mush.
Pappa Charlies Barbeque near downtown, however, serves excellent collard greens. Truth BBQ in Brenham cooks the greens just long enough so they are tender, but still have some texture and crunch. Both versions feature big chunks ham hock or smoky bacon, so the occasional stray vegetarian in a group smoked-meat aficionados may still be out of luck.